Intermittent Fasting Journal – Week 36

In Episode #36, Donna Reish, blogger, curriculum author of over 100 books for preschool through twelfth grade, and Intermittent Fasting teacher, brings listeners Part I (of II) of what she learned during her first year of IF. The first thing that Donna focuses on is something that all IF’ers learn (and that anyone interested in weight management needs to learn)—that she has spent the past forty years of her life eating way more food (and calories!) than what she needed. Setting aside food types and making each food “healthier” according to the “diet of the year,” she came to realize that she was creating foods that were too calorie dense for every day fare and that true weight management only occurs in an environment in which food intake is greatly diminished (which IF helps with immensely!). Donna then delved into something that she was overjoyed to learn (and to teach others)—that many of our food problems stem from hormonal imbalances and not understanding the brain’s response to food. Simply put, much of our overweight is not our faults. But now we know how to counteract many of these issues, and we can begin to have the food control that we have always dreamed of! She describes some of these mechanisms and how they are helping her and her husband. Finally, Donna tells the most important thing that she “re-learned” (and now embraces fully)—that sustainability is everything when it comes to weight loss and weight management. Today’s sponsor is Plexus Slim Hunger Control, the pink drink that helps fill up the stomach, balance blood sugar, give energy, and help with mood.

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A. Our Story to Date

1. One Year—I started a month ahead of my husband

2. Successes

a. Husband went from 48 to 38 and 2 X to Large shirts
b. I went from loose 14/tight 12 to loose 10’s
c. Husband lost 85 pounds/ I lost 23 pounds (45 over last couple years)

3. Immediate goals

a. Get Hubby to work out over holidays when his teaching load is lessened
b. Continue my workout schedule—5 to 7 sessions of strength training/toning of 45 minutes each per week
c. Not gain over the holidays with all the festivities and parties (but still enjoy
them!)
d. Average 18 hour fasts during last two weeks of December (probably closer to
19.5)

4. Long term goals

a. Hubby lose his last 25 pounds; I lose my last 17 pounds
b. Hubby eventual size goal is 36 and medium
c. My eventual size goal is 8 and medium (but hoping my workouts will take me
down to 6 jeans and pants!)
d. Continue to control eating window and keep learning how to reduce cravings
and appetite more and more through my research and blog study

B. What I’ve Learned: Way Too Much Food/Too Many Calories

1. Exciting research I’ve been studying that shows the one thing that has the most
bearing on weight, size, health, anti-aging, longevity, disease prevention, and
more is eating 30% less than we do. (Mammalian research across the board)

2. I have found that I needed to undo all of the “don’t eat this” and “eat this” and stop
trying to make foods that fit this macro or that macro—and eat less. Period.

3. Preoccupation with low carb (in my case) was causing me to eat too much food/too
many calories all the time. Too much calorie dense food made with low carb
ingredients.

4. Fasting has decreased calories naturally without as much effort.

a. The short eating window naturally skims calories off the top over time
without going unusually low).

b. Appetite Correction (balancing of ghrelin and leptin, lowering blood sugar
and insulin, getting pickier about what I choose to use my stomach
space and appetite for, feeling full more quickly, etc.) all help to decrease
calories.

c. Simply having a closed window cuts out so many extraneous calories that I
would be eating if I could eat any time.

C. What I’ve Learned: I Can Control Food Rather Than It Controlling Me

1. Success in having a 19 hour fasting window gives a sense of control that
carries over to other areas, including food control during eating window.

2. I already knew that controlling blood sugar and having good gut health is
huge for cravings, but when you get in a groove of fasting, you start
to plan your food each day—and you control it rather than the other way
around.

3. Even a bad day gets turned around quickly with Intermittent Fasting the next
day.

4. Something about that daily goal setting and achieving that makes you not give
up so easily like on traditional diets. “I have tomorrow to succeed at this”
when you have a bad day—as opposed to “I’ve wrecked it for the week, so
I might as well forget it!”

5. By saving dessert/treats for the end of my eating window, I let AC and filling
of my stomach to help me control food that is sometimes hard to
control.

6. I can much more easily decide which foods are going to be part of my
life and which are for very special occasions or not at all (due to their
triggering or influence on my cravings).

D. What I’ve Learned: Overweight Is Not Always Our Fault

1. From a Hormonal Standpoint

a. Insulin is the fat storage hormone; we’ve been taught to keep it coming
all the time through frequent eating. We’ve been taught to tell
our bodies: store FAT for me!

b. I had never learned anything about ghrelin—had no idea that it could
be trained, and I could teach my body not to be hungry so often
and to be satisfied with less food.

c. I had never learned anything about leptin—had no idea that I was unable
to hear its signals to stop eating. Had no idea that I could train it…
that I could eat certain foods for it to be clearer, and much more.

d. I never knew that I could increase things like fat releasing hormone (glucagon)
and human Growth Hormone (to boost my metabolism and help me
build muscle)—and these hormones would help me with weight
loss, weight maintenance, and future calorie building/appearance.

2. From a Brain Standpoint

a. I never knew that when I keep eating things that give my brain
reward signals (raising dopamine), I tell my brain over and over
again that I need those foods more frequently.

b. I never knew that the reason certain foods “trigger” me to overeat
were hormone AND brain related—and often not my fault. (But
can be controlled with fasting and using non-trigger treats for my
treats—not necessarily “diet” foods but not so high in the five “trigger”
substances.)

c. I never knew that my brain is completely affected food intake-wise by
environment—and that simple environment changes (food availability)
could affect my wait time, my response to non-trigger foods, and more.

3. Never understood why I had self-control, diligence, and discipline in most areas of my life but not in food or fitness

E. What I’ve Learned: Sustainability Is Everything When It Comes to Weight Management

1. I knew this from previous weight loss

a. Twenty-five years ago I lost nearly 100 pounds and gained it all back—plus.

b. I knew when I was at my smallest when I reached my goal that if I didn’t keep
doing exactly what I was doing that got me there, I wouldn’t stay there.

c. I just didn’t realize how low I needed to stay in order to stay there.

2. Bottom line: What you are doing at the time you reach your goal weight is pretty
much what you have to do to maintain that goal weight.

a. One reason it is important to lose with many avenues (slight calorie reduction-
—best to lose by eating the calories you need at your new weight, not
an 800 calorie diet that lowers your metabolism; muscle building;
protein increase for thermogenic effect of protein; sleep; water;
timed eating (intermittent fasting) for metabolism boosting;
fiber—all the things that come together to make a sustainable weight
management protocol.

b. People start a highly restrictive or expensive or elaborate or time consuming
approach, sure they can do that forever, but soon find it isn’t
sustainable because it is too…something.

c. Intermittent Fasting has been the one thing that I have done and never
said “When I get to my goal and don’t have to XXX anymore, I am
going to eat this or do that…”—the only truly sustainable protocol
I have followed in my 40 years of dieting!

d. IF is the one thing that can be adapted to any lifestyle—

F. Plexus Sponsor Today: Hunger Control Slim

1. New Plexus Slim Hunger Control

2. Second Plexus Slim

a. First one—watermelon….Slim Gut Health—contains prebiotics for gut health, as well as plant-based ingredients for energy, sleep, pain relief, lowering cholesterol and lipids, carb craving control
b. Second one—-citrusy—Slim Hunger Control—brand new—contains same as Gut Health one with the subtraction of the prebiotics but the addition of polydextrose

3. Ingredients in Plexus Slim Hunger Control

a. Polydextrose

i. Double the amount of the old, old Slim from a few years ago
ii. Plant-based fiber from Non-GMO corn starch
iii. Resistant starch that only yields 2 net carbs and 20 (mostly non-counting) calories
iv. Blinded, randomized placebo controlled study, researchers found that this amount of polydextrose reduces subject’s desire to eat prior to the next meal and desire to eat remains lower later in the day
v. It mixes with water in the stomach and expands (I call it the natural, healthy “gastric bypass”!)

b. Other ingredients

i. Green coffee bean—helps maintain blood sugar levels; uses the non-caffeinated parts
ii. Garcinia Cambogia fruit extract
iii. Chromium polynicotinate—combination of chromium and niacin—essential trace mineral that we do not get enough of from food; supports healthy insulin levels
iv. Alpha Lipoic Acid—fatty acid found naturally in the body; a potent end antioixdant that helps support other antioxidants in the body (also found in our Nerve product)
v. Citric Acid—found naturally in citrus fruits; non-GMO; natural flavor for Slim
vi. White mulberry—long history of medicinal use; considered a super food and potent antioxidant; Non-GMO version
vii. Stevia—100% pure, Non-GMO; sweetens Slim
viii. Beet root extract—Non-GMO provides the natural color
ix. Cellulose gum—non-GMO version of cellulose gum that gives the drink its substance/mouth feel
x. Silicon dioxide—ultra pure and free of contaminants; helps powder mix more easily

4. Using Plexus Slim Hunger Control With Daily IF

a. During fast

i. 20 calories but only 2 net carbs
ii. Designed to balance blood sugar levels, so will not cause an insulin spike
iii. Immediately takes away hunger
iv. Hunger reduction will continue for hours after consuming

b. Thirty to sixty minutes before opening window or before OMAD

i. Water mixes with the polydextrose to expand and fill up stomach
ii. Hunger is reduced
iii. Stomach capacity is shrunk
iv. You will feel full more quickly and not get hungry after you close your eating window

5. Try Some Plexus Slim Hunger Control!

a. Our sponsor: Plexus Plant-Based Supplements…check out our store or email with questions!
b. To visit our store click HERE
c. For Hunger Control Slim (pink drink) click HERE
d. To try a free sample of Plexus Slim Hunger Control (pink drink) click HERE

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